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why would you say at over one million one likely doesn’t need a trust ? f anything under a million may not need one but even then , one’s death can be the result of an accident , a medical malpractice suit , wrongful death suit and suddenly they have more then a million dollars
one needs to check what their state thresholds are and whether a trust is needed .
here in new york i wasn’t aware of a terrible tax cliff we fell over until i saw an attorney.
at the time new yorks allowable limit for passing an estate tax free was only a million dollars .
go over that by just 5% and you didn’t pay on the overage , you lost the entire exclusion and the estate paid taxes from dollar one .
we needed disclaimer trusts set up .
today our state is the same as the federal level but every state is different…and all exclusions run out at some point over a million so to say one likely does not need a trust over a million is just not correct.
at different levels over a million a trust may very likely be needed to avoid getting state tax hits.
we have disclaimer trusts we can activate if needed .
the surviving spouse has up to 9 months after the death of the other spouse to throw a switch splitting the estate in two enabling 2x the state limit to pass excluded from taxes by putting half the estate in a irrevocable trust that is owned by heirs .
so it is important to know your states estate tax laws and or inheritance tax laws . some states even have both and trusts are the work around
A. Note I wrote the OP should ask her lawyer and expect a thorough answer as part of the $2K.
B. We just re-did wills, POAs, medical directives, trusts etc. last year. One of our lawyer's firm's hardcopy communications noted they suggest trusts to those with <$2MM estates around 15% of the time. In Texas most probate grief can be avoided with TODs docs as well.
A. Note I wrote the OP should ask her lawyer and expect a thorough answer as part of the $2K.
B. We just re-did wills, POAs, medical directives, trusts etc. last year. One of our lawyer's firm's hardcopy communications noted they suggest trusts to those with <$2MM estates around 15% of the time. In Texas most probate grief can be avoided with TODs docs as well.
there are loads of different trusts that can be needed regardless of amounts .
having underage kids is a big reason , protecting assets in second marriages , medicaid planning , passing real estate in some states can only be done via a trust or probate ,state limits on exemptions….the list goes on and on and the needs are not amount based at all.
any place someone wants conditions to be met in order for someone to get something also needs a trust
we have no use for a trust at all at this stage , except if we bump our states exclusion at some point the disclaimer trusts we already have in place will be needed.
in some states if you put a house in a revocable living trust you unknowingly unprotect the home from being exempt from the spend down in order to qualify for medicaid long term care .
many general practitioners who are not estate or eldar law attorneys don’t even realize this , so it’s best to see an actual estate attorney not just a willy nilly lawyer who copies documents off the internet.
when we shopped for an attorney i brought copies of the two wills i already knowingly had trouble with to see if he found the flaws ..
he did , he said most title companies in his experience want to know its an only child .
he said in the other one that he would add a paragraph pertaining to pre deceasing .
so he saw right away these canned documents had defects
Last edited by mathjak107; 01-21-2024 at 09:23 AM..
Wow I had no idea it was so expensive to do an Estate and power of attorney will. I have a will and advanced directive and it didn't come to even $1,000
My father's DPOA and Advance Directive were created using the State's approved forms. I intend to use the same for myself. I haven't yet decided if I will bother with a will. Shocker, I know.
Roughly $650/hour minimum for a partner in a small law firm focused on estate planning.
plus there is a charge for the product they sell …our disclaimer trusts were a few thousand dollars ,so it isn’t just an hourly charge they work in..
we were originally going to use on line documents and have a attorney proof them for us ..not one attorney we called would do that and use a document not tweaked and composed by them.
so many attorneys charge by the product they are providing.
even in my sons field of labor law there are different prices for different services depending on complexity and what has to be provided so not just hourly
Last edited by mathjak107; 01-22-2024 at 04:07 AM..
I wanted to add that I have no close family members and would probably divide my assets between various friends, possibly a cousin or two (not sure), and a few charities, as well as what I allocate for the care of my cat.
It doesn't help that there's a chance I might be moving within the next year, possibly selling my condo and renting for the foreseeable future. Not sure. But I want to make sure to have at least some kind of legally binding will that in the future I could use as a template if I change something that doesn't need consultation with a lawyer (i.e. update/retype the will, go to a notary).
I want to use a lawyer because I'm afraid my will won't be completely legally binding if I don't. There are a couple of potentially complicated areas...
Huge appreciation for all your comments! Thank you!
Looking at these costs impels me to ask what you all think of software like Will Maker or other software for making your own will? I mean that we, and many others, can’t afford those prices. What do we do?
i would never use any off the internet software , ever..
there are protocols and wording different jurisdictions even in the same state want to see , like in our case , and only local attorneys are usually up to date with what they are
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